Chuck Crow / The Plain DealerWith the exception of pinch-hitting duties, the upcoming nine-game road trip will be an extended vacation for Indians DH Travis Hafner.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Just when Travis Hafner starts to hit home runs, along comes interleague play.

Interleague play isn't a bad thing where Hafner is concerned when Washington and the Mets come to Progressive Field, but it's another story when the Indians take their act on the road.

The Indians open a nine-game interleague trip Friday with three weekend games in Pittsburgh. Next is Philadelphia for three more and finally Cincinnati for a three-game weekend series. That means Hafner will be reduced to an $11.5 million pinch hitter, while starting pitchers Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, David Huff, Justin Masterson and Mitch Talbot swing the bat.

It's NL rules when interleague games are played in NL ballparks, which means pitchers hit and the DH stays on the bench. Don't even ask about Hafner playing first base.

INDIANS CHATTERClubhouse confidential: Former Indians manager Eric Wedge interviewed for Baltimore’s open position last week and is considered a strong candidate. Andy MacPhail, Orioles GM, said a decision probably won’t be made until the All-Star break by the earliest.ESPN’s Bobby Valentine also interviewed. Valentine interviewed for the Tribe job after Wedge was fired late last season. The Indians hired Manny Acta.Wedge managed the Indians for seven seasons, taking them to the AL Central division title in 2007. He would be taking on a similar rebuilding team in the Orioles, but in a far tougher division.

New job: The A’s have signed veteran right-hander Jamey Wright, who was designated for assignment by the Tribe on June 4 to make room for right-hander Frank Herrmann. Wright made the Indians out of spring training.

Stat of the day: The Indians entered Wednesday’s game tied with Detroit for the most errors in the AL at 48. They were tied for 12th in fielding percentage with Kansas City.— Paul Hoynes

Hafner may take ground balls at shortstop and first base in spring training, but he hasn't played a regular-season game at first since 2007 because the Indians don't want him throwing. Since then there's been right shoulder surgery and a two-year slump. Hafner has a glove only as a conversation piece.

After hitting .209 (14-for-67) with two homers in April, Hafner hit .321 (25-for-78) with two homers in May. A slump followed, but he entered Wednesday's game against the Mets hitting .364 (8-for-22) with four homers and eight RBI in his last seven games. The four homers equal the number he hit in the first two months of the season.

Now for the interleague cold shower.

"It's hard, but we're not the only American League club going over [to the National League]," said Acta. "Approach it like life -- adjust, adapt and improvise. I'm going to have a very good pinch hitter on my bench though. That's a very good weapon to have on my bench in the National League."

Hafner is 1-for-1 with one RBI as a pinch hitter this year. In his career, he's a .286 (10-for-35) hitter off the bench with two homers and 11 RBI.

Mound of trouble? For the second time in the last three games an opposing pitcher has called the Progressive Field grounds crew to repair the mound during a game.

Sunday it was hot-shot rookie Stephen Strasburg. Wednesday it was Mets rookie Jon Niesewho asked that his landing spot be filled with clay before the start of the fifth inning.

"I think it's an individual thing," said Acta. "We haven't had any of our guys stop the game and complain about it. I think our grounds crew has done a tremedous job. It may be that some guys just have longer strides than other guys."

Niese, who went to Defiance High School and grew up an Indians fan, was the winning pitcher in the Mets' 8-4 victory. He allowed three runs on eight hits in seven innings.

Santana, three years later: The first two times Jhonny Peralta faced Johan Santana on Tuesday, he singled and walked. Each time he reached base, he scored.

He came into the game 3-for-28 with 22 strikeouts against the Mets left-hander, but they had not faced each other since 2007 when Santana started for the Twins.

Asked if this was a different Santana, Peralta said, "He looked a lot different. Before he threw 94 mph to 95 mph. Now he's 89 mph to 91 mph. That's what makes him so different now."

Night off: Acta said center fielder/leadoff hitter Trevor Crowe was rested to give his bruised right knee time to heal. Crowe fouled a ball off the knee over the weekend against Washington. Austin Kearns played center and Anderson Hernandezbatted leadoff. Hernandez batted leadoff 12 times last year when he played with Washington and the Mets.

Eye of the storm: Hernandez started at short and Jason Donaldmoved over to second Wednesday. Donald had a tough night at short Tuesday, committing two errors and failing to throw out runners on four infield hits.

"It wasn't like he had 50 two-out hits to him and he blew 48 of them," said Acta. "This guy had to go to his left and right. It was one of those days. I just said, 'Hey, kid, you all right? Back at them tomorrow.'"

Hey, bussie: The Indians will bus to Pittsburgh after Thursday's game. The Indians' caravan will consist of two buses.

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